Falling Lotus Petals
by Marisol Akyri
Summary: well. my first attempt at the ever so pouplar and growing ipod challenge for xingke & tianzi, the awesomest pairing in the show!


**Rules:**

1. Put your Winamp/i-Tunes/Windows Media Player on shuffle.

2. Click next for the first challenge.

3. Write a drabble of a pairing that suits the song title.

4. You can only write the drabble until the song ends. When the song stops and changes to next song, you must stop writing and write another drabble that suits the new song.

5. Do this for 6 songs, and good luck.

* * *

**1. Pray-Nana Mizuki**

There she lay. No one but him could possibly know that in reality she was not just sleeping. That she was no doubt headed for the end, the light, whatever was out there.

Xingke prided himself on not relying on religion or tests of faith to live through life. You were your own best defense and the only subject you could rely on in the end. But still, for her…

He shook his head and knelt down, picking up the mangled body in his arms. Blood leaked through the thin white material, now spreading out to cover the surface. He felt drops splatter on his own body, but he paid no heed.

For the first time in his life he tried to wish. He begged some unseen force to pull her through. Have a miracle, an angel, anything, just materialize in this instant.

He prayed, and waited.

It didn't work.

**2. Speak For Myself-Aly & AJ**

She had had enough. Ever since she was small he seemed like an overbearing force. It really was for the best, she knew his intentions.

She was small and an empress and needed protecting. He was big and a warrior and needed to protect someone. But sometimes, it seemed too much. Ever since she got kidnapped not once but twice due to Zero, Xingke seemed like he was glued to her side.

She wasn't as innocent as she seemed, she knew what people thought when they saw someone like him always try to find an excuse to be near her. The fact he was 10 years older didn't necessarily help.

So now as she saw Xingke once again walk up the steps to her room she gained confidence. Today she would tell him what she wanted to say. He stood in front of her. She opened her mouth and voiced her thought.

"Xingke, I really think I'm old enough to be able to go on places on my own." Xingke smiled and let her walk on without him. A few seconds later something like a bullet whizzed past her. Tianzi turned in fear and saw Xingke behind her.

She pulled herself to him, not seeing the rocks he dropped behind his back and the smile on his face.

**3. Karma-Bump Of Chicken**

"Xingke, do you believe in karma?" Xingke just raised his head and looked at the white-haired girl, momentarily stopping the business of wiping his sword.

"With all due respect Your Highness, I don't." Tianzi's reply was placing her hands on her hips, trying to place a mock expression of disbelief on her face.

"Why ever not?" "It's not rational. How can the universe keep record of all good or bad events that you have done in your life." He lowered his head and resumed polishing the sword. He has an afterthought however.

"Besides, if it was true, then you surely wouldn't have gotten in as much trouble as you have. You save my life, and you get kidnapped. I help my country and I get betrayed." He shook his head. "That doesn't sound fair to me."

Tianzi walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Perhaps, but maybe the universe just hasn't repaid you yet." In response she leaned over and gave him a brief peck on the cheek, her own face now blushed red.

Xingke smirked at her action, his own face tinged with the slightest amount of red, as he raised his arm and hugged her closer to him. He whispered in her ear.

"It still doesn't make sense."

**4. Lie To Me-Stacy Wilde**

Tianzi was now on her knees, tears flowing freely. "T-Tell me! Tell me!" Her voice was broken by her own sobs.

Xingke tried to comfort the girl, placing a hand upon her shoulder. She merely jerked away, and he let his arm fall down in place.

She now raised her arms and formed trembling fists, attempting to punch the man in front of her. "Why not, why not?!" Xingke closed his eyes and he accepted the weak blows, thinking it only a minor punishment compared to what he felt he deserved.

"Your Highness, don't make this any harder than it is. It surely can't happen. Hasn't the events in your life so far proven this?" "Why should I care?!" She kept on punching, trying to inflict some pain on Xingke that was the same level he was currently giving her.

Xingke sighed and broke free, taking his arms and hugging the girl close. She relented and buried her head in his shoulder, her cries filling his ears and her tears soaking his shirt. "Just s-s-say it. Please."

Xingke closed his eyes and flinched at her words, yet still hugging her close. Suddenly however, he let go and got up on his feet. He walked away and looked at the hysterical girl he was leaving behind. He bowed his head and walked out, the shut door echoing in the room.

Tianzi beat her fists on the floor, uttering her last plea, her only request. She tired to make it heard to him, yet it came out in a silent plea. A feeble whisper from a desperate girl.

"You could've just lied, for me."

**5. Teardrop-Massive Attack**

The great hero of the Chinese Federation, the born child prodigy was now a pitiful sight. His long raven hair that had once held his pride was ragged and torn. His silken robes now slashed and stained with crimson. His arms were clutched to his side, trying to contain some of the pain now running though his body.

The gasps from him were still heard, the crack of his bones as he struggled to move still evident. The men he fought alongside with were now rushing past, averting their eyes, trying to hide their disgust. Others ran past screaming, trying to escape the death-trap this area had become.

He closed his eyes, thinking the end came so much quicker than he though. He always thought it would be his sickness, his cursed disease that would take his last breaths away. Yet here he was, lying on the floor, his wounds not only internal but visible thought his whole body.

The terrorists surely had their work cut out for him he thought. He found little humor though, as another thought ran through his mind. He couldn't say good-bye. To the only person he would truly die for, the person who saved his very life once. He couldn't give her a proper thank you. For all she had down, both known and unknown to her.

He decided to relent and give in to the pain. The sooner he could leave, the better. He then didn't hear the cries of the girl as she spotted his body, the shaking of her arms as she lifted his head on her lap.

She bowed her head and ran her fingers through his hair, trying to hold on to some lasting part of him. Her tears fell on his face, wiping clean streams of blood. She too was so lost in her grief that she didn't notice him shifting his head, she didn't see his eyes open for the final time as he smiled, wishing he could give her some assurance.

As his blood flowed on a lone tear rolled down his cheek, falling on her still-clean lap. It mixed with her own tears that fell down her face.

Their last good-byes and regrets mixed as one, on both their bodies.

**6. Lullaby-Noir**

"What was your mother like?"

It was a simple question, and one who most could answer with ease. It was that he however always avoided.

It was tough times, those years he lived with her. His father was arrested soon after he was born, some incident with the government he had never really bothered researching.

She was a poor girl kicked from her home, since no one wanted to support a newborn child and mother who had yet to turn eighteen. She persevered however, doing odd-ends and jobs which supplied them with food and some shelter.

Or at least that's what he always assumed. His only true memory of her that he could remember was of her at night, always right before he went to bed. He would be tucked in the dog-eared blanket from her youth, and always held close to her body.

He didn't truly sleep however until she began her song. It was slow and mournful, yet so tranquil and peaceful. Her voice was so pure he always wondered why she didn't try singing as a way to earn money.

The words in it had been long forgotten, but he could always remember the sound. The notes of the song were imprinted in his head, and if he wanted to he could easily hum the whole thing.

The song always made her cry when she would recite it, and in the middle when it was sung in full volume, her voice would always crack. Still she would go on, until the end. It taught him a lesson to always move on, never give up.

And when that day came he saw her dead, a single bullet piercing her crown, with the gun still in her hand, he never held it against her. His ten year old self found the power to forgive, and he had. Even when he lived out on the streets, sometimes forced to act as a common criminal, he held her song close. The lyrics would echo in his mind, such as a fairy tale often did. He held its moral close, and never did give in to the pressure.

Even when fate thrust him at the Empress herself, and she spared his life so graciously, so innocently, he didn't go the easy path. He vowed his life to protect her, and he had the best he could.

These thoughts were the ones that came to his mind as he turned to answer. The single lullaby, her last lesson and hope to her son to live as she knew she could not. He gave Tianzi an honest answer, one that he often deduced he would say if this situation would arise.

"My mother was a good singer…"

And he left it at that.

* * *

_any good? im thinking about expanding this to other couples and maybe more xingke & tianzi, but i need your opnion! please review? even if to say it failed or was the most epic thing you've ever read?!!! ^^_


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